WASHINGTON (AP) – United States (US) President Joe Biden is set to host Iraq’s leader this week for talks that come as tensions soared across the Middle East.
The sharp rise in security fears has raised further questions about the viability of the two-decade American military presence in Iraq, through which portions of Iran’s Saturday drone and missile attack on Israel flew or were launched from. A US Patriot battery in Irbil, Iraq, knocked down at least one Iranian ballistic missile, according to American officials.
In addition, Iranian proxies have initiated attacks against US interests throughout the region from inside Iraq, making yesterday’s meeting between Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani all the more critical. The talks included a discussion of regional stability and future US troop deployments but will also focus on economic, trade and energy issues that have become a major priority for Iraq’s government, according to US officials.
Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are both expected to address the US troop presence in meetings with al-Sudani. “It is not the primary focus of the visit … but it is almost certainly going to come up,” one senior US official said last week. The US and Iraq began formal talks in January about ending the coalition created to help the Iraqi government fight an extremist group, with some 2,000 US troops remaining in the country under an agreement with Baghdad. Iraqi officials have periodically called for a withdrawal of those forces.
The US in recent months has urged Iraq to do more to prevent attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria that have further roiled the Middle East in the aftermath of the events since October 7. Most previous Iraqi prime ministers have visited Washington earlier in their tenure.
Al-Sudani’s visit was delayed because of tensions and regional escalation, including the Gaza war and the killing of three US soldiers in Jordan in a drone attack in late January. That was followed by a US strike that killed a leader in the Kataib Hezbollah militia whom Washington accused of planning and participating in attacks on US troops.
